Rick Santorum Denies Calling President Obama the N-Word
Online Debate Rages About What GOP Presidential Hopeful Might Have Said, Almost Said, and Meant to Say
Several YouTube clips showing presidential hopeful Rick Santorum speaking at an event in Wisconsin in which the outspoken Catholic appears to nearly utter a racial slur in reference to President Barack Obama has sparked an online debate about what the GOP candidate might have actually said.
Santorum's campaign denied accusations that he uttered the n-word, reportedly calling such claims ridiculous. Nonetheless, the former Pennsylvania senator's intelligible flub has observers debating what he actually said, almost said, or meant to say, during the March 28 Janesville, Wis., event.
Dozens of clips of Santorum's speech, in which he criticizes the president's political policies, appear on YouTube, all of varying lengths. What appears to be a full clip of the Republican candidate's remarks, however, was published by JATV Media Services also on YouTube (and can be seen below). Santorum is heard at about the 34-minute mark saying:
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"We know, we know the candidate Barack Obama, what he was like – the anti-war, government nig uh, the uh America was a source for division around the world. That what we were doing was wrong and we needed to pull out and pull back."
Political commentator and Syracuse University professor Dr. Boyce Watkins writes in a column for NewsOne: "I've watched this video 14.5 times. I've meditated on it, prayed over it, laid hands on it, and sent it to my mama." Watkins concludes in his commentary that the video clip of Santorum is proof "that he is every bit as racist as we've always known him to be."
Some have suggested, however, that Santorum might have been trying to say "negotiator" or "peacenik" while stumbling over his words, but made a very poor recovery.
Paul Harris, writing for the Guardian, suggested that despite the alleged racial slur obviously being a "campaign-killer," the use of such a word would contradict the wholesome, Christian image Santorum has presented over the past several months.
"This is the man who is almost too goody-two-shoes to be real. He has a large and loving family," Harris writes. "He may be ultra-conservative, but he also appears to be the sort of suburban dad who would be more likely to say 'Aw, shucks' and 'Jeepers creepers' rather than deploy the most offensive word in the English language. He wears sweater vests!"
Sanotrum was previously accused of making racist remarks during a speech in Iowa earlier this year while discussing welfare programs. He was widely quoted as saying: "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money." However, his campaign insisted Santorum actually said, while stumbling over his words, "blah" and not "black."
Despite Santorum's denial on the alleged racial slur against Obama, online debate is likely to continue. One YouTube clip among the dozens on the video sharing network of the flubbed remark had attracted more than 1,318,000 views and 5,400 comments.
Here is an excerpted cut of Santorum's remarks, follwed by a full video of his appearance:
SEE VIDEO OF RICK SANTORUM'S POSSIBLE SLIP UP AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF
